sparklingwater wrote:Does anyone know if flood insurance covers damage from sewage back-up that occurs as a result of heavy rain?

Also, stupid question but don't know who to ask: can sewage back-up occur on the 2nd floor of the building (where potential apartment) would be?

Thanks again!

It will IF you have flood insurance. Many mortgagors, but not all, require it in the 07302 zip code. In addition to the annual premium there's the deductible, so your mileage may vary.

I'm in the same block as you but exactly 3 blocks north and about 18" higher elevation (in a house with basement). I did NOT buy flood insurance because of my extra elevation.

As for sewage backup, the ONE thing I've told my friends and neighbors with old houses in this area is to get a check valve on their drain pipe. "Stuff" can go out but it can't come back in! My absentee landlord neighbor learned this the hard way during Sandy after ignoring my advice: Sewage backed up to the tune of 4 FEET in his basement and took out the water heaters and boilers and laundry machines. My problem was a couple of inches that came through our common wall (now fixed for the future), but I had a pump and hoses and I borrowed a generator.

Backup to second floor would be unlikely, IMO, but I've seen it on first floors above a basement and it ain't pretty...

sparklingwater wrote:Does anyone know if flood insurance covers damage from sewage back-up that occurs as a result of heavy rain?

Also, stupid question but don't know who to ask: can sewage back-up occur on the 2nd floor of the building (where potential apartment) would be?

Thanks again!

For my condo insurance, they do have it as an optional add-on (part of "enhanced coverage") to your basic homeowners policy. They started me off at 5k and I recently bumped it up to their maximum of 25k. So, you should be able to get some coverage.

I was also thinking of getting a flood policy, though I'm not sure how useful it would be if the flooding cause is solely sewer backup as is what commonly happens in that area. An actual flood policy would only cover storm surge, which if we got anything greater than Sandy or even a CAT 1, would be a very real possibility. The rates I got for my unit were surprisingly reasonable, $343/year for 100k of coverage.

It's definitely a reasonable question to ask. I remember the evening of Sandy there was a break in the rain, somewhere around 8:00, and I walked a few blocks south on Jersey Ave to have a look. The edge of NY Harbor was water to the steps at Bubby's Burrito at the corner of Jersey and Bright. We lost power 20 minutes later and didn't have power for 5 days. This map tells a lot:

Where Bright, Grove, and Grand almost meet each other, there were several feet of water on Bright. That is where the surge came from and it is very low set. During Sandy, there was no power for two weeks. If you look at some of the row houses on the east side of Grove on that block, a few are still devastated from Sandy - that area took a major hit.

That there is a great block to call home. I lived on that exact block during sandy and the flooding was very minimal and limited to mostly basements through sidewalk bilco doors. The flood map was very accurate. Again, great block. Van vorst is an amazing park to walk through to and from work.